This book is my advice to young people going into science, engineering, and computer science in a post 9/11 world. It provides a clear and workable plan for facing our problems head on, getting in action on them, and staying in action on them. It can be read as a workbook on actions to achieve a sustainable Earth. I also am sure it will be of value to all people interested in technology and the future.
The book covers a number of critical concepts that are discussed in few other places. These include:
The this as a little book full of big ideas.
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For a limited time, you may also buy the book directly from the author by sending a check for $20.00 (tax and shipping included) with your return address to:
Please e-mail me first.
Public challenges have alway been a part of the race for high technology applications. Big Blue beat the chess master a decade ago and now The X-Prize is generating a big push to space tourism. Could such challenges be a tool for drawing technically trained young people away from destructive activities like hacking? I think so.
My book contains five such challenges and many great ideas. Actions is already going forward on a few of them.
The world will to through a historic population transition this century. The most likely series of events is a peak, drop back, and then stabilize at a sustainable level. Our actions today can effect how humane this transition is going to be.
We have an opening to use the latest science to develop effective actions that will disempower terrorists. This is a complex subject and I am proposing a new approach. Progress is definitely possible.
I am currently working hard to develop contacts in the moderate Islamic community to develop these ideas. Please contact me if you are interested. Locating interested people in the academic and moderate moslem communities is very important.
We now understand the process of transformation well enough to use it to generate buy in for the transition to a sustainable world. This article looks at the current foundation of our understanding of transformation and buy-in and then goes on to show how we can build a scientific basis for these tools and use them to move to a sustainable world.
A friend of mine who makes award winning nature films asked me how the ideas from my book could be applied to the problems of the Earth's oceans. I was most happy to write a short paper on exactly how this could be done:
Nearly all economic systems show the Rich-Get-Richer Rule, but this rule is emergent and the very devil to master. Nobody ever passes a law that explicitly requires the Rich-Get-Richer, so nobody can simply revoke such a law, even if the result is the French Revolution. This challenge takes well known board game that exhibits this rule and turns the computer dogs loose on it.
I am mentoring one of my highschool students and we are moving forward with the Monopoly Challenge as a science fair project. The program now runs very well and can play 2,500 realistic games of Monopoly in less than one minute. There is plenty of room here for lots more fun projects.
We now have a Web version of this software that you can run and display a complete game in about one minute. Check it out on the Web! Alas, the Web version cannot write data files to your disk.
We are now getting very exciting preliminary results like the illustration above. Come join the fun. If you want to take up this challenge, I would be happy to send you the software and documentation for free. You can request them with this Information form.
We need Beta testers. If you can run Java programs and love the game of Monopoly. Drop me an e-mail. We most urgently need people who would be interested printing out game results and then working through the game on a real board to see if there are playing errors.
Monopoly is a registered trade mark of Parker Brothers.
I need input from young people who are studying for careers in science or engineering and who are interested in discussing breakthrough ideas. Please drop us an e-mail.
Unfortunately, all e-mail to this site must be in English and plain text. Please put the word Book in the subject line. All attachments, cookies, and html messages will be block by anti-virus software and will simply not get through. E-mails that are rude or appear to be only argument-for-argument's-sake will receive answers that are short, technical, and boring.
It will also do no good to send me questions on religion, men's fashion, cooking, or being cool. One simply does not inquire of the engineering department on such matters. You may send questions unrelated to the book on scientific instruments, space exploration, low-stress computer furniture, or woodcarving.
If you would like additional information on my book, please use this Information form.
The available information includes:
I am especially interested in reaching young technical people. If you know of any technical magazines or engineering university speaking series, I would be happy to write technical papers and give presentations drawing on the innovative ideas from the book:
If you know of any bookstores, interest groups, schools, or universities in the Baltimore / Washington D.C. area who would let me talk on the subjects in my book, please e-mail me. I am a trained, confident, and practiced public speaker.
This abridged Appendix C, Annotated References, as a html file, or a Microsoft Word file will help you make the Internet links quickly. Cross links to other related books are also included.
Since I finished work on the book in October 2003, I have come across a number of works that support the major ideas in my book. These are now available with our Information form.
Please send us your questions. Previous questions and answers may be obtained with our Information form
Here are the small corrections needed in the book's text. Please e-mail me if you find others.